A protester shouts slogans during a demonstration in Madrid, where youth groups gathered under the slogan 'youth with no future'. Photograph: Susana Vera/REUTERS

At 12.2%, unemployment in the 17-nation eurozone is now at its highest level since the EU's statistics office, Eurostat, began publishing the data series in 1995.

But it is the youth unemployment rate that is most shocking. In Spain, more than 56% of young people are without work, while the figure in Greece stands at an astonishing 62.5%. Very nearly two out of three Greeks under the age of 25 are without a job.

Ministers from France, Germany and Italy have called for urgent action. Germany's finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, warned of an impending catastrophe and Italy's labour minister, Enrico Giovannini, said an entire generation of young people was being lost.

There's a heated debate about whether, by excluding students from the workforce, those rates reflect reality. But few would dispute that the situation is grim. In Italy and Greece, for example, so-called Neets – not employed, in education, or training – now make up more than 20% of the working-age population.

Next week I'll be in Thessaloniki in northern Greece, Bologna in Italy, and Málaga in southern Spain, speaking to members of the EU's "lost generation".

How do they feel about their situation? Who or what do they hold responsible? What needs to be done, now and in the future, to prevent this recurring? How are they going about the business of looking for – or creating – work? How do they spend their time, keep themselves motivated?

If you are in your 20s, unemployed, live in or near one of these cities and would like to talk about these issues, or if you know someone else in that situation, please do get in touch.

You can reach me through Twitter @jonhenley, or on my email: jon.henley@guardian.co.uk. Thanks!